Abiding is related to being unable…

Piper’s devotion for today is a list of resolutions that he wrote for teenage children to help them determine to honor their parents. I chuckled a bit as I read them. Would teens have as much trouble keeping resolutions as adults too? They reminded me of the Laws of God written for His OT believers. They vowed to do everything God said, but wound up unable to keep them.

The NT says this about those laws: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28) and the book of Galatians explains  that those laws cannot save but they do have a good purpose. They show both sinners and saints where we fall short, and how much we need to live by faith and be enabled by the Spirit of God. Without abiding in Christ, as Jesus says in John 15, we can do nothing.

So what is the point of resolutions? Good intentions? Do they not reveal the human inability to keep them? How slow I am to learn that my determination to obey God is not enough to make it happen. I need Him to be the governing force, the motivator who prompts me and works out that obedience.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

So if God is working in me to want His will and do His commands, why then the next lines?

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2:14–16)

Certainly any grumbling or disputing is contrary to those prior words about pleasing God. They show me what does not do it, and therefore I cannot say complaining and arguing are obedience. I can resolve to do God's will, but if it does not fit the descriptions of His will, then I know I need to confess my sin and be forgiven and cleansed (1 John 1:9). I cannot excuse any of those negatives by thinking my mean-spirited manner is one way to tell the truth and use that as a claim that I’m obedient. 

The NT laws work the same way; they reveal selfish and fleshy attitudes and the sinfulness of my old nature. Confession is needed, but also being filled with the Spirit. God will fill me — as long as I’m empty. But herein is the rub; no one likes feeling empty and unable.

Those teens may want to do all the resolutions, but part of being a Christian is learning that I cannot do God's will apart from being yielding to Him because I’ve realized that I cannot obey just because I want to. He supplies the power only when I’ve admitted my lack of it. He calls me the light of the world and not to hide it, yet displaying it has a caveat: 

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

I don’t take credit, or boast — I must obey in such a way that He gets the glory!

PRAY: Lord, just learning to give You glory is a challenging lesson, yet even more challenging is learning to live Your way so others do not put me on a pedestal. You must get the glory. I stopped making resolutions a long time ago, but I still desire to obey You and know I cannot do it without abiding in You. 

Trouble keeping those resolutions?

 

READ Ezra 1-5

A recent newspaper article says that by mid-January, most people have given up on their resolutions for the new year. Whether it is to lose weight, be more efficient in work, or more loving toward family and friends, sliding back into old ways is part of the human condition — the challenge of creating new habits!

It happened to OT Israel. Their history of forming a God-fearing community was continually marred by their drifting back into old sinful patterns. Eventually, God had them taken captive in a foreign land. After a few decades the rulers had changed and so did history:

The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” (Ezra 1:1–4)

The people of God were given freedom to go home and rebuilt their temple! Since Christians are called the temple of the Holy Spirit, this reminded me of the letter to the church in Ephesus in the last book of the Bible:

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” (Revelation 2:2–4)

Like the OT saints, these people of God had also drifted away and needed to go back and rebuild, not a literal house of worship but a renewal in the temple of their hearts. Their love for God needed to be restored, something like the challenge of a new year resolution only on a grand and corporate scale. Today we call these ‘turn back to God’ events “revivals” where Christian zeal for Jesus Christ comes alive in a renewed and powerful way.

This revival happened in Ezra’s time. “When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.” (Ezra 3:1) And there they began the work of rebuilding.

It took a while. There was a new king who didn’t know about the decree of Cyrus and stopped them. Eventually, the people of God called for a decree search and King Darius allowed the work. Their enemies wanted to ‘help’ them, but they resisted. All of this reminds me of the way the events of life and the subtle ‘help’ of my spiritual enemy tries to stop me from loving and worshiping God and from doing His will.

Eventually progress was made and the people were joyful:

And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:11–13)

Memory of the way it was brought tears to the eyes of some, as if the renewal was not good enough, yet the joy of victory was there. The people were freed from their exile and ready to begin again.

Such is the way of the Christian life with its ups and downs. Like those resolutions, vows are made to do better, to stop this bad habit, to begin again, yet this OT story is a lesson: all rebuilding and renewal depends on the power of God. He initiated the decree from their captor and He gave them what was needed to persevere in their renewed life. When they stumbled again, or when I stumble in my resolve, it is not the fault of God but my failure to rely on Him, to love Him with all my heart. The solution is the same as that given to the church at Ephesus: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first . . . ” (Revelation 2:5) Admit my failure, get my focus back on the Lord, and renew my obedience to Him. He is with me to make that happen.